- Yeruchom Levovitz
Rabbi Yeruchom Halevi Levovitz (or Leibovitz) (ca. 1873-1936), also known by his hundreds of students simply as The Mashgiach, was a famousmashgiach ruchani and baalmussar (ethicist) at the Mir yeshiva inPoland .He was born in 1873 (5633 in the Jewish calendar) in Lyuban,
Minsk Voblast ,Belarus (nearSlutsk ) to Avraham and Chasha Leibovitz. He received his education in theyeshiva s of Slobodka and Kelm. [ [http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/slutsk/slu210.html Rabbis who came from Lyuban] ]He was a disciple of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel,
Simcha Zissel Ziv of Kelm as well as RabbiYisrael Meir Kagan (Chofetz Chaim) of Radin.He was the spiritual leader of the Mir Yeshiva in Poland until his passing in 1936. His disciples were said to have followed his every word, never doing anything that they "felt" he would not want them to do. Most of the leaders of the yeshivas of inter-war Poland were Rabbi Yerucham's disciples. They would come on occasion to visit him and seek his advice.
After
World War II , most of orthodox Jewry in Europe was wiped out, along with their many yeshivas (Jewish schools of higher learning). One of the only yeshivas to survive as a whole body was the Mir Yeshiva, which managed to escape miraculously toShanghai ,China , and then on to America. Many of the new leaders of the American and Israeli yeshivas in the post-war period were students of the Mir, and thus followers of Rabbi Leibovitz. Some of his better known disciples include RabbiShlomo Wolbe , RabbiChaim Shmuelevitz , RabbiDovid Povarsky , RabbiLevy Krupenia , RabbiZelik Epstein and RabbiShimon Schwab .His many discourses and lectures are preserved for posterity in nine books which are a staple of virtually every yeshiva library today, as well as many Orthodox Jewish households.
He died on the 18th of
Sivan in the year 1936 at the age of sixty-three. He is buried in the town ofMir, Belarus . His grave site (recently rebuilt by his family) is a common destination for the many Jewish tourists who visit the decimated cities of pre-war Europe.Most of his family escaped the
Nazi s and made it to America where they were pioneers of the rebuilding of Orthodox Jewry in theUnited States . His grandson, RabbiNachman Lebovitz is one of the deans in theMir Yeshiva (Jerusalem) today and continues in his path of disseminating Torah to many students. Most of his children and grandchildren have become teachers, lecturers, and rabbis in various communities in the United States.References
* [http://www.famousrabbis.com/levovitz.htm Rav Yerucham Levovitz - the mashgiach of the Mir Yeshiva ] at www.famousrabbis.com
* [http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5760/bechukosai/features.htm Wolff Rosengarten]
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